Untitled 1934

This untitled work is by Carlos Merida. It’s rendered in black ink, I imagine applied with a brush, on a pale paper surface. The image wavers between figuration and abstraction, right? I love the tension between the strong black marks and the delicate lines. It’s like Merida is building a space, and then letting it dissolve, a constant state of becoming. The smudgy figures and shapes seem to emerge from the background, as if the artist is coaxing them into existence through a process of trial and error. That circular shape near the top looks like it might be referencing the sun, or moon? There's a kind of primordial feel to the image. Maybe Merida was thinking about creation myths or ancient rituals. I like to think of artists as being in conversation across time, picking up threads from the past and weaving them into something new. It’s an ongoing exchange of ideas that keeps art vital.